Jerome Robbins
Date of Death
29 July 1998, New York, New York, USA (stroke)
Birth Name
Jerome Rabinowitz
Nickname
Jerry
In May, 1953, Robbins was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He admitted to having belonged to the American Communist Party's Theatrical Transient Group between 1943 and 1947, and also named eight colleagues as members.
Ballet choreographer.
Co-Ballet Master at the New York City Ballet.
Won five Tony Awards: as Best Choreographer, in 1948 for "High Button Shoes" and in 1958 for "West Side Story;" as both Best Director (Musical) and Best Choreographer, in 1965 for "Fiddler on the Roof;" and as Best Director (Musical) in 1989 for "Jerome Robbins' Broadway." He was nominated four other times: as Best Choreographer, in 1957 with Bob Fosse for "Bells Are Ringing;" as Best Director (Musical), in 1960 for "Gypsy;" and, two in 1963, as Producer (Dramatic) and as co-producer of Best Play nominee "Mother Courage and Her Children"
He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1988 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington D.C.
When he and Robert Wise won the Best Director Oscar in 1962 for West Side Story (1961), it was the first time that a directing Oscar was shared among collaborators.
Only three times in Academy Award history have director-collaborators been nominated for Best Directing Oscars: Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for West Side Story (1961), Warren Beatty and Buck Henry for Heaven Can Wait (1978) and Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men (2007). (Wise/Robbins and the Coens actually won the award).
Robert Wise
Date of Death
14 September 2005, Los Angeles, California, USA (heart failure)
Birth Name
Robert Earl Wise
Nickname
Bobby
Robert Wise was born as the youngest of three brothers. Through an odd job at RKO at the age of 19, the avid moviegoer came into film business. A head sound effects editor at the studio recognized Wise's talent, and made Wise his protégé.
Around 1941, Orson Welles was in need of an editor for Citizen Kane (1941), and Wise did a splendid job. Welles really liked his work and ideas. Wise started as a director with some B-Movies, and his career went on quickly, and he made MANY classic movies. His last theatrical film, Rooftops (1989), proved that Wise was a film maker still in full command of his craft in his 80s. The carefully composed images, tight editing, and unflagging pace make one wish that Wise had not stayed away from the camera for so long.
Was an avid fan of commercial Indian cinema.
1971-75: President of the Directors Guild of America (DGA).
Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945." Pages 1210-1219. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
Directed nine different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Nina Foch, Susan Hayward, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, Julie Andrews, Peggy Wood, Steve McQueen, Mako, and Daniel Massey. Hayward, Moreno and Chakiris won Oscars.
1987: He accepted the Oscar for "Best Actor in a Leading Role" on behalf of Paul Newman, who wasn't present at the awards ceremony.
1982: Awarded honorary membership in the Society of Operating Cameramen (SOC).
Was the last surviving crew member of Citizen Kane (1941).
2005: Celebrated his 91st birthday the weekend prior to his death.
1998: Received the American Film Institute Life Achievement award.
Agreed to direct The Sound of Music (1965) after it had been abandoned by William Wyler on the condition that 20th Century-Fox agree to finance The Sand Pebbles (1966). Wise, who also produced the musical, won his second Best Director Oscar and the Best Picture Oscar. The next year, "The Sand Pebbles" was nominated for Best Picture and Wise was awarded the Irving Thalberg Award, the highest honor for producers.
1992: He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington, DC.
1985-1988: President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
When he and Jerome Robbins won the Best Director Oscar in 1962 for West Side Story (1961), it was the first time that a directing Oscar was shared among collaborators.
Interviewed in "It Came from Horrorwood: Interviews with Moviemakers in the SF and Horror Tradition" by Tom Weaver (McFarland, 1996).
Only three times in Academy Award history have director-collaborators been nominated for Best Directing Oscars: Wise and Jerome Robbins for West Side Story (1961), Warren Beatty and Buck Henry for Heaven Can Wait (1978) and Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men (2007). (Wise/Robbins and the Coens actually won the award).
He was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film culture.
Profiled in "Conversations with Directors: An Anthology of Interviews from Literature/Film Quarterly", E.M. Walker, D.T. Johnson, eds. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2008.
Interviewed in Tom Weaver's "It Came from Weaver Five" (McFarland & Co., 1996).
2005: Retrospective at the 53rd San Sebastián International Film Festival in Spain.
In preparation for "I want to live" in which Susan Hayward is executed, he actually attended a real execution.
He has a son, Robert E. Wise, and a step-daughter, Pamela Rosenberg. He has one granddaughter.